The tech industry is undergoing rapid change.

Companies are downsizing, and layoffs are happening across the business spectrum.

As teams start to think about and implement new ways of working with AI, disruption will happen quickly. Human inefficiencies in processes will emerge. Skills that were once specialized are now being augmented or replaced with AI.

Reducing processes, meetings, and staff may make sense in favor of speed, iteration, learning, and AI automation.

This can either be a scary or an exciting time for product designers. I see it as a transformative period and an amazing opportunity for designers to flourish as product leaders.

However you look at it, it's a time for reflection and examination of how we work, to continue driving impact for the people we design for.

The make up of the product design team

Traditionally, design teams consist of various specializations and skill sets, including research, UX, UI design, copywriting, design systems operations, and sometimes front-end engineers (UI developers). Some designers have multiple skills and can move between tasks such as research and visual design or visual design and coding. Others specialize in a single area, such as UX copywriting.

The traditional "UX" designer who doesn't offer much at the execution level might face challenges, particularly if they lack visual design skills required for executing material UI. UX researchers and copywriters could also be at risk.

Does this mean generalists could rise again?

Maybe—but a different kind of generalist.

A generalist who can navigate seamlessly between macro-level strategic thinking and micro-level execution will be increasingly valuable.

Perhaps this means taking on some responsibilities traditionally held by product managers, leading strategic alignment and direction upfront, then quickly executing on visual outputs.

Playing a larger role in connecting the vision with tangible outcomes.

I appreciate Scott Belsky's analogy of an orchestrator.

Impact on Design Team Structure

If design teams start consolidating functions into a more generalist role, what might that look like? 

If a company decides to cut specialty roles like UX copywriting or research, how would that impact product designers? How can designers augment their skills with AI, and what new skills must they learn to be effective?

These answers are unfolding now, but tools like Cursor, ChatGPT, Claude, and Lovable already excel at generating interfaces from design files—and their capabilities will improve exponentially in the coming months.

This means a single product designer might manage everything from strategy to execution across the entire design process, significantly changing team structures.

Instead of T shaped skills, it's moving to T shaped verticals.

Rather than distributing T-shaped skills across verticals, we could have generalists spanning multiple verticals, handling design strategy, team alignment, visual execution, and quickly outputting HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

How Designers Can Shift

1) Create more value on the strategy and direction

Solving real problems remains at the core of design. Don’t wait for product managers to assign tasks through a Product Requirements Document (PRD). Consider taking on some of the responsibilities typically handled by product managers and pushing the product direction through design.

Learn to facilitate design sessions and product strategy. Understand how user insights connect to business goals. Facilitate cross-functional teams to generate the best ideas.

If you're a visual designer, consider developing skills in user research, design sprints, and facilitation to generate business impact through strategic design.

2) Improve your visual design skills

Having refined visual skills and good taste will remain essential.

As AI generates more noise, it will become increasingly challenging to identify quality. Strong design principles and refined aesthetics will enhance your visual skills. Study good design and practice executing it.

If you're a UX designer or researcher, consider picking up visual design skills. Spend time on Mobbin, Landbook, or Site Inspire. Build your taste and the skill will follow through practice.

3) Learn how to use AI in your workflow

Learn to integrate AI effectively into your workflow. Identify how AI can enhance research synthesis, writing, idea generation, deep research, component creation, and contributions to design systems. Experiment with generating and implementing code from Cursor, ChatGPT, and Lovable based on your Figma designs. Discover what works and what doesn't.

Overall

I believe this is an exciting time to be a designer and a great opportunity for teams to rethink the impact design makes on company growth and success.

What are your thoughts?